Super Paper Mario
|mode= Single-player |rating= |plat1=Wii |nabox= |jpbox= |eubox= |ausbox= }} Super Paper Mario is a role-playing platform game and the third installment of the Paper Mario series of RPGs. The game is the first in the series to be a platform instead of the traditional turn-based battle RPG-style from past titles. The game was developed by Intelligent Systems and published by Nintendo for the Wii. Plot Super Paper Mario opens with Mario and Luigi being alerted that Princess Peach was recently kidnapped. Suspecting that King Bowser is the culprit, they travel to his castle to retrieve her. After Mario and Luigi discover that Bowser was not responsible, Count Bleck, the true kidnapper, appears. Count Bleck, who possesses an prophetic tome called the "Dark Prognosticus," kidnaps Luigi and Bowser, and brainwashes Bowser's entire army. Count Bleck arranges a wedding between Peach and Bowser and, utilizing the hypnotic powers of his ally Nastasia, forces the two to marry. As foretold in the Dark Prognosticus, their marriage summons the Chaos Heart, a destructive power. Count Bleck uses the Chaos Heart to open a black hole known as "The Void" which will eventually grow large enough to engulf the entire universe. Mario, with the help of the Pixls, must collect the Pure Hearts in order to stop Count Bleck's plan. Gameplay Super Paper Mario is a platformer with role-playing elements. The player moves through a series of levels, where he explores various landscapes, fights enemies, and solves puzzles. The game is divided into 32 levels within eight chapters, each of which takes place in a unique location, or "dimension". The main objective is to collect the eight Pure Hearts, one in each chapter, which is used to gain access to the next. Each area is joined to a central hub, a town called Flipside. The majority of gameplay is in 2D. Early in the game, Mario is given the ability to "flip" into 3D. By doing so, the perspective shifts and the 2D level rotates to reveal a hidden z-axis, placing Mario in a 3D environment. Flipping therefore allows the player to maneuver around obstacles impassable in the 2D perspective, or find items, enemies or varying landscapes only visible along the z-axis. However, staying in the 3D perspective too long depletes Mario's health. The game uses a scoring system where points are accumulated through defeating enemies and using items. It also acts like the player's experience points system, however; points allow the player to level up and gain stronger attacks and higher resistance to damage from enemies or hazards. If the player's heart points (HP) reaches 0 from too much damage, they receive a game over and must resume play at the previous save point. Some recovery items, like mushrooms, restore HP. As well as Mario, the player gains control of Princess Peach, Bowser, and Luigi as the game progresses and can switch between them at almost any point in the game. Princess Peach can float over long distances, Bowser can breathe fire, and Luigi can perform a super jump. Only Mario can flip between dimensions. Development Super Paper Mario was created out of a desire to combine the familiar look of the Paper Mario series with a new style of gameplay. Chief director Ryota Kawade was on a train thinking about ways to adapt a mini-game from Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door in which the player controls a large Bowser in a short side-scrolling stage; he noticed that the other end of the train looked like a stage in a Mario game and envisioned switching between two and three dimensions. When producer Kensuke Tanabe was told about the idea, he decided to make the sequel an action-adventure game, but retained some role-playing elements to establish the game in the Paper Mario franchise. Kawade and Tanabe also felt that these elements, as well as the ability to switch between two and three dimensions, would make the game more accessible to players unaccustomed to action games. The team played side-scrolling Mario titles for inspiration, envisioning how the levels would look in 3D. Super Paper Mario was announced by Nintendo on May 11, 2006 at E3 for the Nintendo GameCube. On May 30, 2006, Nintendo set a release date of October 9, 2006. That summer, the game was "silently moved" to the Wii. PAL copies of the game contain a bug if the language is set to English, German, or Spanish. In Chapter 2-2, the game will freeze if Mario speaks to the character Mimi without first picking up the key. Nintendo of Europe is replacing the game disc for no charge with a version that does not contain the bug. Nintendo of Europe announced details of the replacement on their website in November 2007 Category:Video Games Category:2007 games Category:2009 games